Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Banned from Sale in European Union

Apple was granted a preliminary injunction, preventing Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 from being sold in Europe.

Samsung seems to be facing some troubles with regards to its newly launched tablet. Recently, the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in Germany allowed Apple to file a preliminary injunction against Samsung, barring it from selling and promoting the Galaxy Tab10.1 in any European countries except for The Netherlands.

As affirmed by the court, Apple claims that Samsung’s tablet breached their patents and even copied most parts of the iPad 2.

Apple alleged that the Galaxy Tab imitates the iPad and infringes on various intellectual property rights owned by Apple. Apple asked the Landgericht (district court) of Düsseldorf, Germany, to order an injunction under which Samsung is threatened with fines of up to EUR 250,000 (US$ 350,000) for each violation or imprisonment of Samsung’s management in the event of continued infringement. Those are standard sanctions under German tort law for contempt of a preliminary injunction.

Although Samsung could appeal on this ruling, it would take them at least four weeks before they can do so.

Europe is said to be the second continent where the selling of Galaxy Tab has been barred. A week ago, the device’s launching was delayed in Australia as the company agreed to the preliminary injunction requested by Apple for that country. These cases might bring harm to Samsung’s marketing outlook, especially now that Apple is attempting to ban the sales of all Galaxy devices in the U.S.